REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 



The use of reindeer for transporting purposes is not so great as it was before 

 roads were built in Lapland. Along the Finnish frontier the mail, however, is 

 still, to a certain extent, carried by reindeer between Muonionalusta and Karesu- 

 ando, a distance of about sixty miles, otherwise the reindeer is used for trans- 

 porting mail, only when the conditions of the roads are such that horses cannot 

 travel. 



As long as the settlement of the forest and mountain districts of northern 

 Sweden had not progressed very far, cattle raising was entirely dependent upon 

 the fodder crops in fields around, and in swamps and brooks, which were often 

 situated far away from the farms. Before the swamps had frozen it was impossi- 

 ble to go over the ground with horses and later in the winter the deep snow made 

 it impossible to bring anything home from the meadows. With the reindeer 

 one can get over the ground as soon as there is snow on the ground, and for this 

 reason the reindeer was the only suitable animal for transporting purposes. 



The abundant supply of reindeer moss furnishes these animals with plenty 

 of fodder around the farms without any expenses or trouble for the owners. 

 On the other hand, the fodder supply for horses around the farms was often very 

 scarce, and this constituted another obstacle, the more so as one had very little 

 other use for horses. Besides the bringing home of fodder, one can also use the 

 reindeer to convey food supplies from the trading centres and for the transport 

 of game and fish and reindeer meat, which are the chief nutriment in these 

 districts. Further, the reindeer were used to a large degree for the transport 

 of goods from the coast cities to the market places in the interior of the country. 

 In the beginning of the last century, iron ore was also transported by reindeer 

 from the mines of Lapland to the furnaces along the coast. 



When the lumber industry was started on a large scale up in the river 

 valleys, and the roads to the river where the timber was floated were not com- 

 pleted, reindeer were largely used for transport purposes, especially in certain 

 parts of Norrbottonslan. 



As the settling continued and the number of people increased, the game 

 and fish decreased. The settlers were, therefore, obliged to engage in a little 

 more intensive farming and the keeping of horses became a necessity. 



At the same time the abundance of reindeer moss around the meadows 

 and farms also began to diminish, due to forest fires, increase in reindeer, the use 

 of the moss as fodder for the cattle and other similar causes. As a result, the use 

 of reindeer for transport has become less and less prevalent, and they are now used 

 with the exception of those used by the nomad Lapps on their wanderings, only 

 on the more distant farm land for sending the products of the reindeer industry 

 to the town where they are sold. 



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